Job prospects and salaries for university graduates have yet to return to pre-financial crisis levels as employers remain nervous about the economic outlook.

Figures from Graduate Careers Australia show 23.9 per cent of students who completed their degree in 2011 had still not found full-time work four months after graduation.

The rate is unchanged from the year before but well up on 2008, when just 14.8 per cent of graduates were still looking for full-time jobs four months after finishing.

A report by Graduate Careers Australia says recovery of the graduate labour market was anticipated in 2010 and 2011, but had yet to eventuate. “These employment figures suggest that recruiters remain cautious in their hiring plans," the report says.

University of Wollongong Careers Service Manager Martin Smith said big graduate recruiters such as banks and professional services firms are reporting smaller intakes next year too.

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This, coupled with public service layoffs, could make it even harder for future graduates to get into the full-time employment market, he said.

Indeed, accounting firm KPMG has had a smaller intake this year than last. About 360 graduates will begin with the firm in coming months, compared with 448 a year ago.

Chief executive Geoff Wilson, who started with the firm as a vacation intern, said KMPG was committed to its graduate program but economic uncertainties inevitably played into the firm’s recruitment decisions.

“Whilst the underlying economy is strong, we are in a lower growth environment," he said.

“That has resulted in a reduction in demand for professional services, which has translated into a reduction in transaction activity. In the context of a lower growth environment, the demand for graduates is less."

The research, based on the responses of more than 100,000 graduates, also shows starting salaries of new bachelor graduates are in decline relative to the earnings of more experienced staff.

In 2012, new male graduates earned a median salary of $55,000, or 82.3 per cent of male average weekly earnings. This was down on 86.5 per cent in 2009.

This probably reflects “the effects of continued recruiter uncertainty in the backwash of the global financial crisis", the report says.

However, the long-term unemployment rate for university graduates is small – only about 3 per cent. Job vacancies and salary rates also vary across professions.

Pharmacy and medicine have employment rates in excess of 90 per cent, for example, while University of Queensland graduates in mining engineering and geology reported starting salaries of more than $110,000.

Mr Martin said information technology graduates were in very high demand.

“One in three employers who come knocking on our door looking for graduate talent are IT-related employers," he said.

University of Canberra economics professor Phil Lewis said labour demand in the pre-GFC years was abnormally high. These latest figures were a return to a more normal state.

“They’re probably slightly below normal because there is still a lot of uncertainty about," he said.